Right before the title drop in Across the Spider-Verse, Spider-Gwen leaves her house and swings out into the sky – does her Spidey thing. It’s a great visual sequence, and I was struck by a fleeting moment where she nearly disappears into the white sky, only standing out by the black and red of her costume.

I wanted to draw that moment, and I wanted to draw it from memory, before I watched the movie for a second time.

This is the first drawing I’ve made without using any visual reference other than checking the colours of Gwen’s costume. If you’ve followed my drawing journey so far, you’ll know the milestone this is for me. Everything I’ve drawn before this has been from life or photographic reference. But this time, I had an image and pose in mind, and I wanted to see if I could have a bash at it before googling a pose close enough to copy.

And I watched myself draw a figure in pretty acceptable proportion, with a good sense of gesture and line. Didn’t need to look up anatomical references even once.

If I could go back and change something about the pose, it’s that her right hand, which is held against her body, cuts into the dynamism of the pose. I was aware of this while drawing, but I couldn’t solve it then. Afterwards, I realised I could have pulled it all the way back behind her, which wouldn’t be as “realistic” for a pose like this, but which would look better.

It was also interesting to turn my line drawing into flat colours. I had to figure out how to indicate overlaps, compressions of form and so on. That was a great exercise. The actual doing of it in Procreate was painful, and I wish I had a better idea of what brush to use for something like this.

Initially, I wanted to keep the sky entirely white, but I found that her head and her left arm (the one extended forward) were lost against that background, so I half-assed a cloudy blue sky, which works better, but which isn’t as striking as I wanted the drawing to be.

Maybe once I get better at this kind of stuff – form and negative space – I could try a redo and see if I can come up with a better solution that’s not just adding colour or lines to the flats.

I must say I’m pleased with that left hand, and both her legs. Wouldn’t change a thing about those.